Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-02-12
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
VETO OF THE DEPENDENT PA.
RENTS PENSION BILL.
His Views on the Granting of PEN
sions-Thinks the Bill is I'M
perfect in Its Details.
ESPECIAL BY TELEGRAPH TO THE REcoRD-uNlos.

with return, without my approval, the
House bill No. 1457, entitled IAN Act Tor
the relief of dependent parents and
honorably discharged soldiers and
sailors who are now disabled and depend
ent upon their own labor for support"
This is the first general bill that has been
sanctioned by Congress since the close of
the late civil war permitting pension TO
soldiers and sailors who served in that war
upon the ground of service and present
disability alone, and in entire absence of
any injuries received by casualties or Incl
dents of such service. While by al
most constant legislation since the close
of the war, there has been compensation
awarded for every possible injury re-
ceived as the result of military service
in the Union army, and while a great
number of laws, passed for that purpose,
have been administered with great liberal
ity, and have been supplemented by num-
erous private acts 10 reach special cases,
there has not, until now, been an avowed
departure from the principle thus far ad
hered to, respecting Union soldiers to whom
the bounty of the Government in the way
of pensions is generally bestowed, when
granted TO those who in this military
service and in the line of military duty
have in greater or less extent been dis
aDIeu. Dut IL Is q lllStdhC W SuppoSc tliti
service pensions, such as are permitted by
the second section of the bill under con-
sideration, are new to our legislation.
In 1918, thirty-five years after the close
of the Revolutionary war, there were
granted bounties to soldiers engaged in that
struggle, conditional upon the service until
the end of the war, or for term not less
than nine months, and requiring every
beneficiary under the Act to be one who
is, or who, after by reason of his reduced
circumstances in life, shall be in need of
assistance from his country for support.
Another law of like character was passed
in 1928, requiring service :" to the close of
the Revolutionary war" And still another.
passed in 1882, provides for those persons
not included in the provisions of the stat
ute, but who served two years at the same
time during the war, and giving proper
tionate sum to those who had served not
less than six months.
A service pension law was passed for the
benefit of soldiers of 1872 in the year ISL
fifty-six years after the close of that war
which required only sixty days service !;
and another was passed in 1S7S-sixty-
three years after the war-requiring only
fourteen days service The service pen
sion bill passed at this session of Congress
-thirty-seven years after the close of the
Mexican warrior the benefit of soldiers of
that war, requires either some degree of
disability or dependency, or that the claim
ant under its provisions should be 62 years
of age and in either case that he should
have served sixty days, or been actually
engaged in battle.
1t will be seen that the bill of 1918 and
the Mexican pension bill, being thus passed
nearer the close of the wars in which its
beneficiaries were engaged than the others
one thirty-five years and the other thir-
ty-nine years after the termination of such
wars-embraced persons who were quite
advanced in age, assumed to be compara-
lively few in number, and whose circum-
stances. dependence and disabilities were
clearly defined and could be easily fixed.
Other laws referred to appear to have
been passed at q time so remote from the
military service of the persons which they
embraced, that their extreme age alone
was deemed to supply the presumption of
dependency and need. The number of en-
listed men in the Revolutionary war is
stated 10 be 800, ,791, and in the war of 1912,
57S,622; but it is estimated that on account
of repeated re enlstments the number of
individuals engaged in these wars did not
exceed one-half of the number represented
by these figures. In the war with Mexico
the NUMBER Ol Is TtpOIleu 10 Ut
112 230, which represents greater proper
ton of individuals engaged than the re-
ported enlistments in two previous wars.
The number of pensions granted under all
laws to the soldiers of the Revolution is
given at 62 069; to soldiers of the War of
1872 and their widows, 60,17S and to SOL
diers of the Mexican war and their widows,
up to June 80, 1885, 7,619. This number
of pensions was granted to soldiers of a
war involving much hardship, for the dis
abilities incurred are the result of such serv-
ice, and it was not till within the last
month that a few of the remaining sur
vivors were awarded service pension.
The war of the rebellion terminated
nearly twenty-five years ago. The number
of men furnished for its prosecution is
stated to be 2,772,40S. No corresponding
number of statutes have ever been passed
to every kind of injury or disability in-
Cured in the military service any where.
Under the Statutes 561 ,576, pensions
have been granted from the year 1861 to
June 80. 1856, and more than 10000 pen
soners have been added to the rolls by
private Acts passed to meet cases, many of
them of questionable merit. which the
general laws did not cover. On the first
day of July, 1856, $685. ,673 pensioners of all
classes were upon the pension rolls, of
whom 305, ,605 were survivors of the war of
the rebellion, and their widows and de-
pendents For the year ending June 80,
1887, S75, 100000 have been appropriated for
the payment of pensions, and the amount
expended for that purpose from 1861 to July
l, 1856, is $S0S, ,624, 81 81. While annually
paying out such a vast sum for pensions
already granted, it is now proposed by the
bill under consideration to award service
pension to soldiers of all wars in which the
United States has been engaged, including,
of course, the war of the rebellion. and to
pay those entitled to the benefits of the Act
$12 per month. So far as it relates to the
soldiers of the late civil war, the bounty it
affords them is given thirteen years earlier
than it has been furnished to soldiers of any
other war and before large majority OF its
beneficiaries are advanced in age beyond
the strength and vigor of the prime of life.
1t exacts only military or naval service of
three months. without any requirement of
actual engagement with an enemy in bat
tie, and without subjection to any of tae
actual dangers of war. The pension i.
awards is allowed to enlisted men who have
not suffered the least injury, disa-
bility, loss or damage of any
kind, incurred in, or in any degree
referable to their military service including
tnOSe VINO never redc0eO t1e IrO0I 2L all
and those discharged from the rendezvous
at the close of the war. if discharged three
months after enlistment. Under the last
call of the President for troops, in Decem-
ber 1864, II ,303 men were furnished who
were thus discharged.
The section allowing this pension does,
however, require-beside service of three
months and an honorable discharge-that
those seeking the benefit of the Act shall
be such as ARE now or may hereafter be
suffering from mental or physical disabil
itv, not the result of their own vicious
habits or gross carelessness, which incanaci-
tates them for the performance of labor,
in such degree as TO render them unable to
earn support, and who are dependent
upon their daily labor for support 1t pro-
vides, further, ''that such persons shall,
upon making proof of the fact. be placed
on the list of invalid pensioners of the
United States, and be entitled to receive
for such total inability to procure their sub
sistence by daily labor, s12 per month,
and such pension shall commence from
the date of the filing of the application in
the Pension Office. upon proof of the lisa-
biiity that then existed, and to continue
during the existence OF the same in the de-
gree herein provided; provided, that per-
sons who are now receiving pensions un-
der the existing laws, or whose claims
are pending in the Pension Office may,
by application to the Commissioner of